Share prices closed 1.13 percent higher yesterday, led by the financial sector after Standard Chartered Bank announced an offer to buy Hsinchu International Bank (
They said tourism-related stocks provided support on expectations of an influx of more Chinese visitors to Taiwan, with sentiment further buoyed by the government's decision to declare an extended holiday from Friday through next Tuesday.
The weighted index closed up 77.90 points at 6,960.95, after trading between 6,907.43 and 6,961.78, on turnover of NT$76.08 billion (US$2.29 billion).
The financial sector was up 3.19 percent and the electronic sector up 0.36 percent.
"Profit-taking earlier in the morning failed to undercut a still bullish market," said Alvin Teng (
Standard Chartered's announcement of a plan to acquire Hsinchu International Bank at a big premium over its current market price helped offset investor caution over the fact the benchmark index was trading close to its next resistance level of 7,000 points, dealers said.
Teng said funds apparently flowed into financial shares and other non-tech stocks across the board, while the bellwether electronics sector also snapped a series of declines and ended firmer, with investors expecting a further market upside, given that the sector has trailed behind most of its international counterparts.
"Some profit-taking may be inevitable later this week ahead of the Oct. 6-10 holiday but that should not disrupt the upswing towards 7,500 points by the end of the year," Teng said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last